A.X.L. is a 2018 special effects driven film and done by first time director Oliver Daly.
Here’s IMDB’s quick synopsis: “A.X.L. is a top-secret, robotic dog who develops a special friendship with Miles and will go to any length to protect his new companion.”
Now to me sounds identical to the classic 80’s film Short Circuit, that’s because it's the exact same plot.
What hurts A.X.L. are the things it doesn’t have to its counterpart. Things such as: intentional comedy, a humors robot that may (or may not) be named Johnny Number 5, Steve Guttenberg or even a hit song from El DeBarge named Who’s Johnny?
What A.X.L. does share is you guessed it practical effects. The robotic dog was shown in practical effects and in CGI. Filmed on a budget of $10 million, A.X.L. feels like it's made from 5x that. So, director Oliver Daly, filmed a short film as a proof concept for the CGI effects and somehow made a movie with CGI effects a step or two below the glossy Transformers and their $150 million budgets. In several shots the cast interacts with a practical robot dog on set. Granted the dog didn’t move much, but to build one on a $10 million budget where practical effects are an afterthought in most movies.
Enough of the comparisons let's jump into the plot.
Underdog Motocross racer (Insert Bland Name) gets his bike broken by rival whom we’ll call Johnny from Karate Kid. So after the race (Insert Bland Name) confronts Johnny from Karate Kid and his crew about the getting some spare parts, Johnny from Karate Kid politely turn him and insert Love Interest who gives (Insert Bland Name) the parts to enter the next race and win.
Johnny from Karate Kid, is impressed by the skills of (Insert Bland Name) and invites him to a little house party at his place. At the party, Johnny from Karate Kid uses a flamethrower (call back to that guy later in the film) to burn a wrecked parked car. We get another scene with (Insert Bland Name) and Love Interest but all this leads to Johnny from Karate Kid to invite our lead character to a motocross meet to do tricks in the desert. Now anyone in their right mind would not want to hang out with Johnny from Karate Kid, two days in a row, but our lead character either has a death wish or wants the antagonist’s money to rub off onto himself.
Out in the desert some flunky vlogs guys before their stunts and here (Insert Bland Name) says one of the greatest movie lines of the decade, in the the most monotone voice.
“YO, SEND IT.”
It became so unintentionally funny that my brother and I would say it all night.
So, Johnny from Karate Kid and his crew sabotage (Insert Bland Name)’s bike where he wrecks and could have died. Johnny from Karate Kid, leaves our protagonist in the desert alone with two gallons of gas. As (Insert Bland Name) recovers he meets robot dog A.X.L.
I’ll only spoil the first Act for you and I’m sure you’re not interested in me posting anymore basic archetypes as name substitutes, but I post that for a reason. The reason I post them is because its easier and I don’t remember their names.
Based on my comments it seems I don’t like this movie, in fact I greatly respect this movie for being as good and competent as it is. Yes, A.X.L. has a cast of nobodies (except a three scene cameo of Thomas Jane a.k.a. The Punisher), so they used that money on the CGI effects. They film most of the movie during the day, so they can spend more money on the CGI effects
.
I mentioned that the CGI effects are a tier or two under, but its mostly due to there being fewer in A.X.L. and there’s one character with limited moving parts unlike the Transformers with their Swiss Army Knives. On the other hand, A.X.L. only has saw blades in his mouth. Hmm…Thomas Jane, we got him.
On a serious note, I want to see more low/mid budget movies with high ambitions. Ambitious movies that stay in a small box and use all the tools at their disposal to make it look more polished and appear at a higher budget than it is.
With a little bit of polish and using every tool at your disposal anyone can make anything look like a million bucks.
A.X.L. gets 3 washed up Thomas Janes out of 5
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